Finally fed up, three members of the Lancaster Planning Board resign -- here's their resignation letter.
August 16, 2022
Attn: Lancaster Town Clerk
We, three members of the Lancaster Planning Board, have written this letter to notify the town that we are resigning.
We will join what has become a steady outgoing stream of volunteers and professional staff. Many residents may not realize that Lancaster was left without a Planning Director for a year and a half after Michael Antonellis left in disgust. Presently Lancaster has an interim town clerk, no Planning Office Manager, and no Conservation Agent. The Council on Aging Director resigned in July amid continuing harassment, after forcing multiple complaints against her from the past year to be reviewed and discarded. On July 18th, a long-time Council on Aging member resigned at their meeting, citing her discouragement with the town’s administration.
The Select Board has frequently mistreated the Planning Board, other volunteers, and residents, in the past couple years. Violations of the town’s existing Code of Conduct have not been followed or enforced.
Additionally, the Select Board has failed to enforce their own item on their agenda, which reads “ Complaints or criticism directed at staff, volunteers, or other officials shall not be tolerated.” The Select Board’s mistreatment, and lack of respect of the Planning Board and its chartered authority led us to this decision.
The Planning Board is an independently elected board charged with the developmental planning of our community, Following by-laws, rules and regulations, and Mass General Laws. This fact seems to have been overlooked by the Select Board. On numerous occasions one Select Board member has used public comment on both the Select Board and the Memorandum of Agreement meetings to disparage the Planning Board and their decisions regarding the North Lancaster zoning changes and 40R by-law. We assure you that each and every decision that our Planning Board made complied with both Lancaster by-laws and Massachusetts General Laws. Conversely, the Select Board created their own timeline for the North Lancaster zoning articles, which did not coincide with the Planning Board’s timeline. The Select Board attempted to derail the Planning Board’s timeline, by harassing the Planning Board with immature rants during Select Board meetings, and on social media. This is clearly an unjustifiable interference with the decisions of the duly elected Planning Board. It isunfortunate the Select Board chose to pursue this counter productive behavior. Our decisions are based on serving the best interest of the town, according to our board’s time schedule, and the information needed, rather that the timeline of one individual selectman.
As Alan Greenblatt, an NPR reporter, recognized: “...Recall campaigns against [public officials] used to be rare. They’ve not only become more common, but they’re also now more often driven by partisan politics than accusations of high crimes or misdemeanors.”
The recall proceedings we face are driven by residents who see an opportunity to grind a variety of axes. The top-ten signers on our initial recall petition included:
- The former chair of the Planning Board, who lost her seat after her toxic politics were brought to light by the era of recorded meetings and internet discussion. By no coincidence, she is seeking to recall the man who unseated her.
- A disgraced developer who still has not completed his subdivision, left the neighborhood adrift this past winter when he refused to plow it, and who was stymied from transferring maintenance of an expensive private pump station by the Planning Board.
- The developer who clearcut the Maharishi property alongside Hilltop Road received a Cease-and-Desist order from the Planning Board last year.
- The above developer’s real-estate colleague, who ran for Planning Board this year financed by the first developer mentioned.
- A former Planning Board member who, in his last attempt to run for Planning Board, was backed by the same public Relations Firm used by Capital Group Properties.
- Realtors who were incensed when the Planning Board presented the town with an Inclusionary Zoning Bylaw in 2020, which discouraged tracts of housing that placed a burden on Lancaster.
The charges against us, which the above attested to under penalty of perjury, are preposterous.
- We’re accused of preventing a bylaw from being considered at town meeting, when the bylaw was not completed until a month after town meeting. Agreements necessary to consider that bylaw have, to this day, still have not been signed. What we’re accused of is not possible.
- Some members are accused of “not working with other board’s.” Another member is accused of “conspiring with the Conservation Commission.”
There is no magic to gathering signatures against a board, that to most residents, is obscure in purpose. At Shaw’s in Clinton, the signature gathers told their prospects “...unless the Planning Board members are recalled, your taxes will be going way up.” At the post office, a young man named “Ben” was open that he was being paid to collect signatures and had never himself seen a Planning Board meeting.
A special election would force Lancaster to endure another three months of vile rhetoric and division and a special election that would cost $10,000 or more. The chaos in town hall and uncertainty about the remaining term of the seated board has already led prospective applicants to delay their applications, and they will not submit them if they are uncertain the seated members can complete their hearings. By resigning, we can ensure that Planning Board business will be disrupted for the shortest possible period.
This letter serves as notice that the below-signed members of the Lancaster Planning Board resign our positions effective 9:00AM on Tuesday, August 16, 2022, and is intended to fulfill the requirement in M.G.L. Chapter 41 Section 109.
With the highest regard for the town we all share,
Chairman Roy S. Mirabito ______________________
Vice Chair C. Peter Christoph ______________________
Clerk Carol Jackson ______________________
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